State Duma deputies have prepared a ban on phones in schools for the second reading

State Duma deputies have prepared for the second reading amendments to the bill that has caused debate, which limits the use of telephones by schoolchildren in educational institutions. If in the original version it was proposed to leave the opportunity to use gadgets for educational purposes, now an exception has been made only for cases of threat to life and health. The authors of the amendments insist that the tightening is dictated by the wishes of parents.

On Friday, amendments were introduced to the State Duma (available to Kommersant) for the second reading of the bill, designed to increase the authority of the teaching profession. Changes are being made to the Federal Law “On Education”. In the original version of the document, we recall, it was about limiting the use by schoolchildren of “communication means during classes during the implementation of basic general education programs.” At the same time, the opportunity to use the telephone remained in cases “provided for by the educational program, or in the event of a threat to the life or health of students, employees of an organization carrying out educational activities, or other emergency cases.”

Discussion of the document in the first reading caused a heated debate. The deputies were interested in how exactly the restrictions would be monitored and what kind of liability would be provided for violators. But it was the wording about cases “provided for by the educational program” that raised the most questions.

Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin insisted that “educational gadgets should not be mentioned at all as an exception to the ban, since they have their own laws.”

Mr. Volodin also proposed returning labor lessons to the compulsory curriculum—the initiative was greeted by parliamentarians with thunderous applause.

Amendments to the second reading tightened the restriction on the use of telephones in lessons; now the wording reads as follows: “Do not use mobile radiotelephone communications during training sessions when mastering general education programs of primary general, basic general and secondary general education, except in cases of a threat to life and health of students and employees of organizations carrying out educational activities.” The second amendment adds the subject “labor (technology)” to the list of compulsory subjects in primary and secondary schools.

“Vyacheslav Viktorovich (Volodin.— “Kommersant”) immediately said that the document required improvement, and we, of course, agreed with this, because we also saw the concerns of parents on this issue,” said the first deputy chairman of the relevant State Duma committee on education, Yana Lantratova (SRZP). “They were not satisfied with such wording, and we could not ignore the opinion of the parent community.” The parliamentarian said that the deputies share parental concerns, since “they also want to create comfortable conditions for learning at school, eliminating from the educational process anything that can distract children.”

The head of the Duma Committee on Family Affairs (a co-executor of the bill), Nina Ostanina (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), in a conversation with Kommersant, noted that before introducing amendments to the second reading, she conducted polls on social networks. “The idea of ​​a complete ban on the use of telephones caused mixed reactions,” said the deputy. “But still, the majority of parents expressed concern that the first wording of the amendments would be interpreted too broadly.” Mrs. Ostanina added that the Ministry of Education will need to formulate a clear framework for the process of implementing this norm in schools: “The department should initiate serious conversations in schools: teaching staff, parents, student government together will be able to choose the best option for their educational institution.”

Separately, the parliamentarian noted that thanks to the amendment on compulsory labor lessons initiated by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, which was also introduced for the second reading, “the bill has become much more complete and useful than originally intended.”

During the first reading, deputies noted that they wanted to consider the “fundamental bill” before the New Year, so the relevant committees were asked to introduce and discuss amendments “within the minimum required time.” The first deputy chairman of the education committee, Yana Lantratova, noted that the committee is already preparing to discuss the changes made at a meeting on Monday. The head of the committee, Olga Kazakova (ER), also reports this.

Polina Yachmennikova